touched by the hand of god
In the Hands of the Gods
Changing the world goal by goal - the Homeless World Cup comes to Melbourne.
Universally understood, passionately followed, described by Dmitri Shostakovich as "the ballet of the masses", football (or soccer, in Aussie Rules-ruled local parlance) has a power far greater than the power to excite - as the founder and president of the Homeless World Cup Mel Young says, it has "the power to change lives."
In its sixth year, The Homeless World Cup unites teams of people who are homeless and excluded, to take a once in a lifetime opportunity to represent their country. It has triggered, and supports, grass roots football projects in over 60 nations working with over 25,000 homeless and excluded people throughout the year. This year in Melbourne 56 nations are, as we write, competing on specially created pitches in Federation Square and Birrarung Marr.
ACMI is celebrating this landmark event with screenings of three films that take the round ball as inspiration. In the Hands of the Gods, screening on Sunday 7th December at 5.30pm, follows five London boys as they busk their fabulous freestyle skills on a path from the streets of London to the favelas of Buenos Aires, in search of their hero Diego Maradona. Then, at 7.30pm, another inspirational documentary Football Under Cover tells the moving story of an historic friendly match between the Iranian and Berlin womens' soccer teams.
And, in Australian Perspectives on Saturday 6th December, we bring back the marvellous 1990 film Struck By Lightning, starring Garry McDonald as the crusty director of a sheltered workshop for young adults with Down's Syndrome, who finds his group being moulded into a strike soccer team by the new phys-ed teacher.
This evening, Monday 1st December, don't miss a very special night as The Big Issue brings us a fascinating program of spoken word, song and film with Homeless Not Artless, celebrating the many talents of The Big Issues' vendors.
So if you've not yet wept with joy at the curl of a ball, or screamed at a cunning offside trap, this week might be the time to get enlightened, as 'everyone's game' comes to Melbourne in a very inspirational way.
For full screening details head here
Published Monday, 1 December 2008
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